Coach Brian “Panda” Lim and the rest of RSG PH are standing behind jungler John “1rrad” Tuason following his mishap during the Game 2 draft of their clash against Minana EVOS in the MPL Philippines Season 12 regular season, Saturday night.
1rrad, who was cleaning his phone using his hand warmer during the drafting phase, accidentally picked Aldous, a non-meta hero, which forced Panda to change his draft strategy and pick heroes that would complement the Soul Contractor.
“What happened is that si 1rrad biglang na-pick yung Aldous because he was cleaning his screen because it was dirty,” said Panda during the post-match press conference.
“He was using his hand warmer to clean it a bit and then it just clicked right away. That’s it, disaster happens,” he added.
Left with no other choice but to push through, Panda shared that the entire team tried to make the unusual composition work but Aldous, who was made popular by Blacklist International’s Danerie “Wise” Del Rosario a few seasons back, was just too hard to use in today’s meta.
RSG PH eventually lost Game 2, 2-11, in just 15 minutes after Minana EVOS took advantage of the situation and blew right past them right from the get-go.
“We tried to bawi sana sa ibang heroes pero wala eh, Aldous could not contest any objective and could not rotate din together [for] the team fights. It is what it is,” said Panda after the 2-0 loss to the surging Minana EVOS.
“The good thing is that the whole team is supportive and cheerful. Wala namang sisihan or anything like that,” added the two-time MPL PH champion coach.
Crucial was the series for RSG PH as a win over Minana EVOS would make them the second team to enter the playoffs joining the unbeaten ECHO.
“If we won 2-0, playoffs secured na eh. How was Irrad feeling? I don’t think I need to explain. This game was really crucial for us but ayun, 0-2 tapos yung Game 2 parang throw draft eh. Even I could not imagine how he would feel right now,” Panda said.
The team, however, can make up for it when they take on the defending champion tomorrow, Sunday at 6:30 p.m.
“Babawi kami bukas, kaya namin yun.”
